Head of People Operations & Development

Medialab Group; City of Westminster; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Time to Unwind – 25 days holiday (+ X)

Hybrid Working – 3 days in office

Career Growth – Mentoring and CPD

Health & Wellbeing – Private medical,

Supporting Families – Parental leave

Giving Back – Charity days

Perks & Rewards – Discounts & trips

Job summary

Medialab Group, the UK’s leading independent media agency, is seeking a senior Head of People to own the day-to-day People function and drive operational excellence across the full employee lifecycle. You will partner with the Chief People & Culture Officer to shape strategy, efficiency and a high-performance culture.

In this role you will translate data into board-level insights, coach leaders, design succession plans and lead the L&D programme.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering seamless people operations across the full employee lifecycle in a fast-growing environment.
• Strong leadership and ability to develop high-performing teams.
• Excellent relationship-building and a commercial and empathetic approach.
• A data-driven mindset with ability to translate insights into action.
• Excellent knowledge of UK employment law.

Responsibilities

• Own the day-to-day People function and payroll processes to ensure efficiency and compliance.
• Coach leaders and create clear career progression pathways.
• Lead the L&D strategy with senior leaders to build leadership capability.
• Translate data into board-level reports to inform decision-making.
• Support flexible working and talent acquisition initiatives.

Skills

People Operations

Employee Lifecycle

Leadership

Data-driven

UK Employment Law

Project Management

Job description

JOIN OUR JOURNEY

Medialab is the UK’s leading independent media agency, and one of the fastest growing in the industry. We’re a media agency that’s made differently: purpose-led, data-driven, founder-run and proudly independent.

Our entrepreneurial spirit means success is recognised and rewarded. There are no limits to what you can achieve here, which our employees agree with, evidenced by being a Campaign Best Place to Work for six consecutive years and one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025. As well as this, we’re Campaign’s Independent Agency of the Year 2024 and Media Week’s Independent Agency of the Year 2025.

We are IPA Effectiveness accredited, an IPA People-First agency, and All In Champions, with industry-leading work recognised by double-gold at the 2024 IPA Effectiveness Awards for our work with Laithwaites and a 2025 Effie for our work with Alzheimer’s Society.

Our independence means we can focus 100% on doing the right thing to secure success for our clients and our brilliant people. We work with a wide variety of clients including Hovis, IG, Sharps Bedrooms, SunLife, Standard Life, Ancestry, Laithwaites Wine, Save the Children, Guide Dogs, Alzheimer’s Society, RNLI and Clearscore.

OUR VALUES

• Commit to Doing the Right Thing (Act with integrity and accountability)
• Help People Flourish (Invest in people)
• Dig Deeper to Understand Better (Data driven curiosity)

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Working at Medialab comes with lots of perks including all the usual things you would expect, such as a competitive salary package, pension, season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, weekly social events and big summer / end of year parties.
On top of that, we offer extra benefits, which make life at Medialab even more rewarding:

• Time to Unwind – 25 days holiday (+ Christmas holiday closure), a day off for your birthday, holiday buying scheme, flexi-hours, and both a work abroad and cultural bank holiday swap scheme.
• Hybrid Working – Balance between home and office. (3 days in office) We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements from the commencement of employment.
• Career Growth – A meritocratic approach to progression with quarterly reviews, CPD Platinum accredited training, mentoring and leadership support.
• Health & Wellbeing – Private medical insurance, health cash plan, gym discounts, wellbeing apps Mental Health First Aiders and free professional counselling.
• Supporting Families – Enhanced parental leave pay, flexible working and life assurance.
• Giving Back – Paid charity days and sustainability initiatives.
• Perks & Rewards – Retail discounts, long-service trips and an unforgettable team culture.

YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE

Reporting to the Chief People & Culture Officer, you will take ownership of the day-to-day People function, driving operational people and process excellence across the full employee lifecycle through strong business partnership. Your analytical, data-driven approach will be crucial for optimising our processes, giving you significant board-level exposure, reporting and influence.

We welcome applicants looking to work part-time and offer flexible working arrangements.

HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT

You will own the operational engine of the People function, ensuring all processes, from complex employee relations to payroll, are efficient, scalable, compliant and commercially focused. By translating raw data into insightful, board-level reports, you will drive decision-making and ensure our people operations are seamless and to an excellent standard.

Through coaching leaders on effective performance management and embedding clear pathways for career progression, you will ensure robust frameworks for professional growth are in place.

Lead the overarching L&D strategy by partnering with senior leaders to identify current and future skills gaps. This involves designing and implementing targeted initiatives that build leadership capability and ensure our team has the skills needed to support key business priorities.

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TEAM

Must Have Skills

• A proven track record of delivering seamless people operational and process excellence across the full employee lifecycle, within a fast growing, dynamic environment.
• Strong leadership skills with experience in managing and developing a high-performing team.
• Excellent relationship-building and influencing skills, combined with a commercial and empathetic approach.
• A data-driven and analytical mindset, using insights to drive improvements and hold yourself and others to high standards.
• Highly organised with strong project management skills and a demonstrable sense of accountability.
• Agile and adaptable, with experience thriving in a fast-moving, growing business environment.
• Excellent and up-to-date knowledge of UK employment law.

Nice to Have Skills

• Experience with HRIS/People systems, automation and AI.
• Experience submitting for industry learning accreditations (e.g., IPA CPD Platinum award).
• Experience working in a media, marketing or creative industry environment.

At Medialab we are committed to fostering a culture that celebrates creative thinking, different perspectives and the many different cultures that exist. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and identities. All qualified applicants will receive fair consideration, regardless of age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status, social mobility or any other protected characteristic. If you require any reasonable adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible for you, please reach out to our Head of Talent Acquisition and Inclusion at [e-mail]. Requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application.